Pot Pie Noodle Dough
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons milk
2 and 1/2 cups sifted flour
Combine eggs, salt and milk. Add flour and work in with your fingers. (I guess
you could use a large spoon, but we use our fingers.) Dough should be dry, not
sticky. When all flour is mixed in, roll dough (half at a time) on a lightly
floured (surface) until very thin. Cut into 2 inch squares, and drop into
boiling broth. Cook for 20 minutes without removing the lid of kettle.
(Recipe from "The Art of Pennsylvania Dutch Cooking" by Edna Eby Heller, p. 123)
A few comments: My grandmother rolled her dough much thinner than I think is
necessary, use your own judgment. You must add the pieces of dough: one at a
time or they will stick together and not get cooked. I also add some cut up
celery and onions (or add celery seasonings and dried onion).
You can adjust the seasonings to get the taste you like. And, you can cut up a
potato or two and add it to the broth. I like potatoes with mine.
But it is okay to leave them out.
I cook a whole chicken and use the broth (with fat removed) and some of the best
meat in the broth, to your taste. If you cook the chicken the day before, the fat will
rise to the top and you can skim it off and discard it. Back in the 1940s and 50s,
the local fire company had a Spring festival and made gallons of Chicken Corn Soup
to sell. The Woman's auxillary used to pick cooked chickens of all meat to be used
in the soup. No fat was skimmed, in fact, the skin and fat was adding back into the soup
for added flavor. Today we know it is best to discard the skin and fat!
My mother used to use the broth from a beef roast, and leftover meat (she froze
the leftovers) for the pot pie broth. Add water as necessary. We also like Turkey
Pot Pie, made with leftover turkey and broth (and gravy). Yum!
We have friends who use store bought pot pie egg noodles, called Bot Boi. I don't
know where they available other areas. I haven't looked for them as we
always make our own.
Some other good PA Dutch Cookbooks:
"Mennonite Community Cookbook" by Mary Emma Showalter
"Eat Yourself Full: Pennsylvania Dutch Cookery" by Ruth R. Tyndall
(out of print,
I think, check the bookstores or auctions, if interested!)
If you are interested in the "Mennonite Cookbook," it is listed on Amazon.com:
Proceeds from any books ordered from this link or bookstore will benefit P.R.Y.S.
Polio Foundation to help Polio survivors now dealing with Post Polio Syndrome.
Just a little advertisement for a good cause I support as a Polio survivor
myself. For other books and cookbooks, you can check my reviews at my bookstore page.
© 2000-2001 JKH